


All These Things That I've Done

by Squilkey



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fluff, M/M, TJ has secrets, Therapist Cyrus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-08-22 09:04:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16594946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squilkey/pseuds/Squilkey
Summary: When a new kid starts at Jefferson, Cyrus can't stop thinking about him. TJ should be someone Cyrus would normally just ignore, more trouble than he's worth, but he can't. He attempts to get closer to him, creating problems in almost every corner of his life. But maybe it's worth it.





	1. Advanced History

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoy, this is going to be a pretty long fic! I have ideas kinda mapped out but i think they'll change to integrate things from canon in them. This is an AU though, so some things in the plot will be slightly different, but I've tried to retain most aspects of the show :)

It was the second week of school for the Good Hair Crew and, while they were finally eighth graders, it really hadn’t gotten off to a great start. Well, for Cyrus that is. He was originally put in the wrong math class, the wrong history class, _and_ the wrong lunch period, which was definitely on ‘top three of Cyrus’ worst nightmares’. Thankfully, he had gotten his lunch period fixed immediately (there was no way he was spending the first day of school sitting alone) and he had been rightfully placed into algebra by Thursday of the first week, only really missing a recap of last year. Unfortunately, he was still struggling to get out of the Advanced American History course he had been placed in. 

The problem was, he liked history fine, and his previous grades showed he should be in that class. But he liked the social, political, and geographical aspects of it and absolutely hated the memorisation. And unfortunately, this class seemed to be all about it. Besides, he didn’t get put in Buffy’s period and if he dropped down to regular, he would be with Andi. The switch really was in everybody’s best interest. If only his counsellor could see that. 

After politely requesting he be moved multiple times over email (and showing his counsellor the overwhelming syllabus he had been handed), Buffy had finally convinced him to go in and stand up for himself. The trouble was, his parents didn’t see this class as an issue so they weren’t willing to help him out either. He had to go alone. 

On Tuesday of that second week, he made an appointment to meet with his counsellor after school. Upon arriving, the door was closed and seemingly occupied, so he took a seat to wait. He tapped on his phone to calm his nerves a little: he was just switching out of a class, it wasn’t that big of a deal. 

The door opened and Cyrus instinctively jumped up, only to see a boy slipping out. Their eyes met and the other boy quickly looked away, closing the door behind him but still standing. Cyrus motioned behind him.

“Is she free?” He asked. The kid looked to him and blinked. Cyrus waited for a response, but it didn’t seem like one was coming. “Ms. Danforth,” he clarified.

The boy shrugged, “I don’t know? No?” He finally said. 

“I’ll just wait until she comes and gets me,” Cyrus reasoned out loud, sitting back down. 

“Good for you,” the kid mumbled, taking the other seat near the door. Cyrus frowned but didn’t say anything, looking back to his phone. Buffy had sent him a ‘thumbs up’ emoji and Andi had added, ‘excited to have class with you tomorrow!’. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 

“You getting expelled or something?” 

Cyrus opened an eye, he wanted to talk now? “Just trying to switch classes,” he replied. 

“You seem really worked up.”

Cyrus shrugged, “I’m like this with most things.” The boy nodded but didn’t say anything else. The voices from inside the office got louder and Cyrus felt compelled to cover them up. He realised he had never seen the boy around. “Do you go here?”

“I guess,” the kid responded. Was he being rude or— “My parents are trying to enrol me,” he followed up. 

“Oh!” Cyrus smiled. “Welcome to Jefferson, I’m Cyrus,” he stuck out a hand. The boy just nodded in response and Cyrus resigned in awkwardly pulling back his arm. 

“TJ,” he said, turning to face the office. Cyrus almost said ‘what?’ but then realised, he was giving him a name. TJ, he repeated in his head. He was going to remember that. He realised the boy—TJ—was trying to listen in on the conversation happening behind the door, so Cyrus ducked his head and looked to his phone. He really didn’t want to listen—at all—and he was sure TJ didn’t want him to either. 

He ran over the conversation he was going to have with his counsellor in his head: his list of reasons why he shouldn’t be in the class, his already demanding course load, proof that he wasn’t great at memorisation, and the fact that he didn’t even sign up for the class. It should be fine, right? He tried to push the worrying thoughts from his mind. Worst comes to worst, he has a bit more homework and studies an extra hour a week. Yeah, it would be okay. 

He glanced up at TJ, who was still looking intently at the closed door. He seemed slightly nervous, almost how Cyrus was acting. Starting a new school will that to you, he reasoned. His gaze was still on the boy, noticing how his eyes were green and he had a nice jawline and — nope he wasn’t going to do that. He forced his eyes down to his phone and let the group know he was still waiting to go in. 

The door opened again and while Cyrus didn’t jump this time, TJ did. He glanced up at the movement, and TJ tried to straighten himself as the people inside the room came out: A man, a woman, and his counsellor. TJ had immediately lost the casual, uncaring facade he had built up and was standing on edge, like Cyrus had been minutes earlier. 

“Just make sure he brings these with him tomorrow and everything should be in order,” Ms. Danforth said, handing the woman—probably TJ’s mom—a file of papers. 

She nodded and thanked her for all her help and then turned to TJ. “Let’s go.” Her voice was stern and he saw TJ visibly swallow. Cyrus attempted to avoid any eye contact, wishing he hadn’t ever made his appointment. 

As the family was leaving, Ms. Danforth turned to him. “Cyrus, I hope you weren’t waiting too long.”

Cyrus shook his head, “Only a few minutes.”

“Great, come on in.” She held open the door and he walked ahead of her, sitting down in one of the seats across from the desk. She closed the door and sat down at the desk, pulling up to the computer and typing immediately. “I’m assuming you’re here about your history class?” She asked. 

Cyrus nodded. “I really think I’d be better off in the other class, Ms. Danforth. I’m in a lot of other advanced classes this year and I didn’t do very well in American History in 6th grade and my memorisation is really weak and—”

“—Cyrus, I’m going to cut you off, okay?” Cyrus nodded into silence. “I know you have a list of excuses built up and I understand you’re worried about taking this class, but I want you to take a deep breath.” She paused to watch Cyrus do so. “You’re smart, and I know you can handle this class. This is a good way to test what you should take in high school. It won’t affect your GPA if you do poorly and if you do well, which I know you will, you’ll be ready to take more advanced classes next year.” 

“It won’t affect my GPA?” Cyrus asked.

“No, Cyrus, middle school classes don’t factor into your GPA for college.” Cyrus frowned, oh. “I want you to stay in this class, at least for a few weeks. Put some effort in and see how it goes, I’m sure you’ll do well.” 

Cyrus nodded, if it didn't affect his GPA, was it really worth arguing over? “Okay, I’ll stay.” 

“I’m sure you’ll find that you’ll be thankful you did,” she said. 

He thanked Ms. Danforth for her help and left the office, texting the GHC group chat as soon as he got outside. Buffy admitted she wasn’t too upset, she was thankful to have Cyrus to study with. Andi replied with a sad face, hoping Cyrus wasn’t too stressed over the final decision. And if he was honest with himself, he really wasn’t. He had already been in the class for a week and a half, at least he hadn’t missed anything, and he wouldn’t have to catch up in a new class. He had been so focused on maintaining the perfect schedule he had built over the summer, and he had gotten a little wrapped around that idea. Change could be good, he hoped. 

He told his mom and step dad when he got home and they were thrilled with ‘his’ decision. He was still worried about the workload, but it did seem like it was for the best. But would he be thankful? He wasn’t quite sure. 


	2. Very Different Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cyrus finally has an official schedule and is surprised to see who's joined his history class. While he believes things have started off well, Buffy has her own story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> er i betaed this at 8am after staying up all night, then feel asleep mid read and missed my first class. enjoy!

The next morning was the first day that school year where he could relax: he was attending all of his classes knowing he would be enrolled in them for the rest of the year. 

He had fourth period science with Andi and walked with her to their table outside for lunch, where Buffy, Marty and Jonah were already waiting. He smiled at his friends, it felt like eighth grade had officially begun.

They had a longer lunch period this year, fifty minutes instead of forty, and they hadn’t yet gotten used to it. They all agreed it was too long (but would never admit that to administration). Because of this, Cyrus found himself at his history classroom with seven minutes to spare. He usually took the last five minutes of lunch to wash his hands in the bathroom and stop by his locker, and he had obviously overcompensated with the new time. 

He peered into the classroom window, it was empty save his teacher and one student. He took that as a sign he could enter and pulled open the door. He walked past the teacher’s desk, giving a wave to her as he passed by, and slipped into his seat, carefully dropping his textbook onto his table. He tried to avoid listening in on the conversation happening across the room, and unzipped his backpack, pulled out his history folder and a pencil, and added them to the table next to his textbook, taking time to arrange them. 

“It’s fine, I did well at my old school.” There was something about the voice that made Cyrus look up. He could only see the back of his head, but he knew it was him, the kid from yesterday, TJ.

“You did very well,” his teacher corrected, handing him back a piece of paper. “I hope you won’t be too bored basically re-taking the course you did last year.” 

TJ shrugged, “It looks a little different. Besides, you could take hundreds of American History classes and cover something different in every class.” 

His teacher smiled, “Very true.” She looked to Cyrus and Cyrus tried to look busy with his folder. “I have a few things to do before class starts,” she commented. “Have you met many students yet? Perhaps you and Mr. Goodman could introduce yourselves?” She gestured his way and TJ turned to face Cyrus, who he obviously hadn’t noticed had entered the room. 

Cyrus gave him a sheepish smile and TJ walked toward him. “You following me?” He dropped his backpack down next to Cyrus’ desk. 

“Not purposefully?” Cyrus offered. TJ rose an eyebrow and swiped Cyrus’ folder off his desk, causing one of his pencils to go rolling. Cyrus wanted to say something, to protest, but he didn’t know how. He slowly bent down to pick up his pencil, watching the boy flip through his papers. 

“Guess I didn’t miss much,” he commented, dropping the folder back down. 

Cyrus blushed at the lack of his notes, “I didn’t think I was staying in this class,” he admitted. 

“Right, the counsellors office,” he recalled. “Didn’t go well?” He sat down on the desk next to Cyrus’, propping his feet up on the chair. 

“She thinks I can handle this class,” he replied. 

“But you don’t?” For the attitude TJ was giving yesterday, Cyrus was surprised at the interest he was showing in this conversation, and he was determined to keep it going.

“I was worried it would hurt my GPA but apparently—”

“—Middle school doesn’t factor into your GPA,” he interjected. 

“Right,” Cyrus confirmed, not bothering to mention that’s exactly what he was about to say. 

“So you don’t think you’re going to do well?” He asked.

“I’m just bad at memorising, but I’ve never not gotten an A, this class isn’t going to ruin that.”

“You’ve never gotten below an A?” TJ repeated.

“Nope. I came close in PE last year, but I managed to get extra credit before final grades closed.” TJ laughed, it was the first time Cyrus had seen him smile, his eyes crinkled and lines formed around his nose. It was—

“You somehow almost managed to not get an A in the easiest possible class?” TJ’s words broke his thoughts, right—conversation.

“PE is not the easiest class for someone like me,” he protested. 

“Someone like you?” He leaned forward slightly, something Cyrus definitely took notice of.

“Scrawny, weak, might even be compared to kugel.” TJ laughed again, which Cyrus couldn’t help but enjoy. 

“You don’t look that scrawny to me,” TJ commented. Cyrus’ stomach flipped a little, it wasn’t even _really_ a compliment, he needed to chill out. 

“Come watch me play any sport, you’ll change your mind,” he said. They smiled at each other for a moment and the classroom door swung open, a few kids entering the room. TJ jumped down from the desk, quickly, swinging his backpack over his shoulder and heading toward the back of the class. Guess that was the end of that conversation, Cyrus thought. 

TJ sat in the back of the classroom for the whole class, which Cyrus thought was odd, considering the conversation he had with his teacher made it seem like he enjoyed the subject, but perhaps he didn’t want to be recognised as ‘new’. When the bell rang for the end of sixth period, Cyrus tried to catch TJ on the way out, but he was too late. 

When the final bell for the day rang, he met up with Buffy and Andi at his locker to walk Andi home, as they always did. As he approached, it became obvious that Buffy was ranting about something. He caught the latter half of the conversation as he approached. 

“It sounds like a threat, do you want to tell Metcalf about it?” Andi was saying. Cyrus frowned and turned to Buffy. 

“What happened?” 

“Do you have that new kid in any of your classes?” Buffy asked. Cyrus opened his mouth to respond, but Buffy continued talking. “He’s a dick,” she added. Andi shot Buffy a warning look. “Sorry, but I don’t know how else to describe him.” 

“Rude? Mean? A jerk?” Andi offered.

She shrugged, “I think my word covers all of those.” Andi shook her head, but didn’t say anything.

Cyrus frowned. “What did he do?” 

“Coach Skye is my math teacher this year, right? So I was talking to her before class started about the team and how I’m trying to encourage more girls to try-out this year so we can advertise as a co-ed team and all that. So I’m talking to her and this kid comes up right behind me, asking if I was talking about the _boys’_ basketball team. 

“And I said, yes it’s technically the boys’ team but since I’m officially on the roster, we’re trying to change it to be co-ed. And he starts talking about how co-ed basketball teams are ridiculous and that girls could never play as well as boys, that the rules for contact are different, and the height differences make it impossible. He just _invited_ himself into this conversation. So I have to correct him, of course, telling him that all of that is invalid since we’re in _middle school_ and contact rules are different anyway and that most girls are taller than the boys. Oh, and that saying girls can’t be as good as boys is completely sexist. 

“But he somehow turns that around on me, saying that me calling him sexist for saying the rules for girls and boys are different is ‘uncalled for’. And I tried to argue that that’s not what he said, he specifically said girls could never be as good as boys, but he then acted that that _wasn’t_ what he had said. So Coach Skye can’t tell who said what and she got mad at me for picking a fight with the new kid when _he_ was the one to interrupt our conversation! Who even is he?” 

She huffed at the end of her story, staring at Cyrus, who had no idea what to say. He thought about what he had overheard and decided to address that instead. “So what did Andi mean by a threat?” 

“Oh!” Buffy almost yelled. “So after class, like a few minutes ago, he comes up to me while I’m trying to leave and stops me by the door. And I’m like, okay maybe he’s trying to apologise I’ll give him a minute. But does he? No. He says, ‘Hey, just to let you know, I’m trying out of the team this year and I have a feeling there won’t be any girls playing.’ I didn’t even respond, I just stormed off.” 

Cyrus frowned, it sounded like a threat, but it also didn’t really sound like TJ. Maybe there were two new kids today? Although he very much doubted it. “Are you sure he was serious?” Cyrus asked.

Buffy gave him an incredulous look. “Do you not believe me?” 

“No! I believe you! It’s just, I can’t believe someone would do something like that,” he commented. “It seems really out of character.” 

“Out of character for a random, new person?” Buffy questioned. “Why are you defending him?”

“Maybe he just thinks the school won’t let us have a co-ed team? He’s new, right? So he doesn’t know,” Cyrus offered. Buffy stared back at him, obviously unsure of what to say, and Cyrus shifted on his feet. 

“Why should that matter?” Buffy pressed. “He was still a dick.”

“You’re right,” Cyrus conceded. He should be defending his friend, he always defended his best friend, what was so different about this? “He shouldn’t have said that, whatever the circumstances.”

“Exactly,” she replied. “So I’m just going to prove him wrong at tryouts, and that will be the end of it.”

“I hope so,” Cyrus said to himself. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you noticed, i finally have a name for this fic so im gonna update it lol.


	3. Previous Bias

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cyrus wrestles with wanting to talk to TJ and not wanting to upset his best friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this one is short but I'm probs gonna upload again in like a day or two my motivation has been whack recently im sorry :(

The next morning, he was determined to talk to TJ about what Buffy had told him. There had to be some kind of misunderstanding, right? Yeah the kid was moody, but Cyrus liked him and was hoping they would get closer; that definitely wouldn’t happen if Buffy hated his guts. Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to find TJ all morning, and when he skipped lunch to look for him, his friends got suspicious. 

Andi stopped him at his locker, five minutes before their lunch period was over. “Cyrus, what’s going on?” She asked. 

Cyrus attempted to act oblivious to the situation, but Andi could wear him down with one look. “I’ve met the new kid,” he admitted. “Twice, and he was really nice! Well, not _really_ nice but I feel like he needs friends and I was hoping we could be those friends.” 

“But he was mean to Buffy,” Andi argued. 

“And that’s why I’m trying to find him, to figure out why.”

“You think he’s going to tell you?” She asked. 

“I don’t know, but I can try. But only if I get to my next class early so I really have to go,” he explained. 

Andi nodded. “You’re always trying to see the best in people,” Andi sighed. “Go. But please talk to Buffy, she’s still upset you didn’t seem to fully support her yesterday.”

“I will definitely talk to Buffy,” he promised, closing his locker and rushing toward his history classroom. He grabbed the handle to walk in, but ended up slamming into the still-closed door; it was locked. He frowned and peered into the classroom, it was dark and empty. He looked around the hallway, still empty before the lunch bell rang. What was most likely his one shot of the day to talk to TJ was now gone. He felt bad for wasting so much time looking for him, when he could have been making up his actions from yesterday to his best friend. 

“Always eager to start class?” Cyrus turned to see his teacher coming down the hall, smiling at him. 

“Still not used to the longer lunch periods,” Cyrus replied, smiling in return. 

“Well I know you were anxious about being in this period,” she turned and unlocked the door, motioning for him to walk ahead of her, “And I want you to know you can reach out for help whenever you’re feeling lost, okay?” 

“Thank you, Ms. Martin,” Cyrus said, making his way to his seat. The bell rang to signal the end of lunch, and Cyrus was still the only student in the classroom. A minute passed and students began to enter, causing any hope Cyrus had to talk with TJ to abandon. Of course, he could try to catch him after class again. 

TJ came in thirty seconds before the final bell rang. Cyrus turned to watch him as he slipped into his chair in the back row and dropped his backpack to the floor, not bothering to pull out notes or his text book. He forced himself to face the front of the classroom the whole lesson, trying to keep his mind off the boy. 

When there were only a few minutes of class left, he did something he swore he would never do: he packed up early. He slowly slipped his pencil bag and notebook into his backpack, careful not to make any sound with the zipper. He didn’t dare do anything with his text book, leaving it open so he would at least look slightly engaged in the end of the lecture. When the bell rang, he almost jumped out of his seat, earning a strange look from his teacher. He smiled sheepishly and as soon as she dismissed them, he was on his feet, gunning for the door. The plan was to get out into the hall and wait right by the exit, so there was no possible way TJ could slip past him. 

In position, he waited as every kid left the classroom, until the flood of students turned into a trickle, and then into none. He frowned, how could he have missed him? Cyrus peered back into the classroom—he hadn’t. TJ was standing at the teacher’s desk, talking to Ms. Martin. Cyrus sighed and looked down at his watch. They had five minutes in between 6th and 7th period, and he had three and a half minutes left. Luckily, his next class was just down the hall and he didn’t need to stop at his locker (although it would have been nice to drop off his history book); he could stretch his time until the warning bell. 

TJ nodded and then straightened his backpack and Cyrus ducked his head back out from the door, trying to act casual. TJ blew past him, turning left immediately, and Cyrus followed. “TJ!” He called.

TJ turned around, his expression almost making Cyrus jump back, he didn’t look happy. When their eyes met, however, he looked a lot less intimidating. “Oh, hey,” his voice was softer than Cyrus was expecting, which was a good sign. 

“Cyrus,” Cyrus said. 

TJ nodded, “Right. I’m—”

“—TJ, I know,” he cut TJ off. Maybe he could blame it on the nerves of risking being late to class, or maybe he was just that awkward. 

“I was going to say heading to 7th period,” he finished, smiling slightly. Cyrus wanted to dig his grave early and just lie down in it. TJ looked around the hallway, watching the students slowly disappear into their classrooms. “What’s up?”

Cyrus glanced down at his watch, warning bell in half a minute. “I heard something about your conversation with Buffy that I wanted to ask you about,” he said.

“Who?” TJ responded bluntly, no longer smiling. 

“Buffy? I think you have math with her, she’s on the basketball team.”

“Oh,” he was definitely frowning now, “Why?”

“Why what?” The warning bell rang. Cyrus was much more nervous that he had anticipated. 

“Why are you interested? Thought you were bad at sports.” Cyrus couldn’t get a read on his expression, was he upset? Annoyed? Joking?

“It’s just, I heard you said something and I thought, oh that can’t be what he said, so I just wanted to clarify—”

“—Heard from who?” He interrupted. 

“Uh, Buffy,” he admitted.

TJ nodded once, “Okay, I see where this is going. I’m going to head to class. See ya.” He turned on his heels, not giving Cyrus so much as a glance back, but Cyrus watched the whole time, as he disappeared around the corner. He stood in the hallway, unsure of what to do. The tardy bell rang. Crap. 

He snapped out of his daze, turning around and rushing to his classroom. 

When the final bell rang, Cyrus walked to his locker, hoping and praying Buffy would be there with Andi. She was, thankfully, and Cyrus hoped that meant she wasn’t too mad with him. He definitely needed to prioritise his friendship with Buffy over this new kid. TJ didn’t seem to care at all about the situation, and he obviously wasn’t making an active effort to befriend Cyrus, so why should he try?

“Buffy, I probably cannot apologise enough,” he began. “I know I’m an idiot, and I definitely believed you I just, _might_ have had some previous bias,” he admitted. 

“Previous bias?”

“I met him, TJ, before you and I thought we could be friends with him. He seemed alright, just kind of moody and I just couldn’t believe he would have been that mean,” he explained. 

Buffy shook her head, “You’re always trying to see the best in people.”

“But I should believe you, he’s a jerk. I’m on your side,” he said. 

“So you didn’t try to talk to him again today?” Buffy asked. 

Cyrus frowned and turned to Andi, who mouthed ‘sorry’. “Okay I did,” he admitted. “But he was a jerk, just like you said, and I’m sorry I didn’t immediately trust you.”

“And?” Buffy lead.

“And I won’t talk to him, or even look at him, from now on,” he proclaimed. 

“Okay,” Buffy laughed, “You don’t have to refrain from _looking_ at him.” 

“Nope,” Cyrus responded, holding up his right hand, “Won’t even look!” 

Buffy rolled her eyes, “You’re crazy.”

“Crazy loyal,” Cyrus countered. 

“So we’re good?” Andi asked hopefully. 

Buffy looked at Cyrus and smiled, “We’re good.” 


End file.
